Beta read by the amazing mcibb
The Doctor held her up in a sitting position with one hand while using the sonic on her back with the other. Rose wasn't sure if this particular version was attempting to heal her, or merely get an idea as to why she was suddenly paralyzed. As it was, she'd already started to feel her legs again, even if she couldn't actually move them through the tingling pain. She really didn't need the extra healing power.
"Just a bruise." He finally said as the whirring of the sonic stopped. She didn't remark on the difference between it and her husband's, knowing she'd seen the same version in the dream state. Turning her head, Rose watched the Doctor tuck it inside his velvet frock with a sigh. "Healing remarkably quick, however. I'd say about an hour and you'll be on your feet again, quite literally."
"Maybe you should get the other you." She commented, fighting the urge to try and get on her feet when she was well aware she wouldn't be able to. "He could carry me back to our TARDIS."
"Don't be ridiculous." The other Doctor looked at her like she was a stupid ape, something she hadn't seen from him in years. He bent down, scooped her up without effort, and headed over the path that they were moving on before. She flung her arms around his neck to steady herself. "You don't seem at all surprised about my ability to carry you. How often are you this incapacitated?" He teased at the end, and Rose laughed.
"I know you're stronger than you look." She teased back, enjoying the warm smile he gave her. "'Sides, your last body was quite thin, hardly looked like there was any muscle on ya at all. You once carried me as soaked-through dead weight for five minutes back to the TARDIS."
"Well, I suppose that would be an excellent reason as to why this is no surprise to you at all."
The two remained quiet on their walk, Rose leaning in to him and resting her head against his shoulder. Her forehead brushed against his neck, and she could feel his mind touch hers again.
She could feel her legs regain sensation, but it was more uncomfortable than anything. She kept wanting to shake her legs out, get the feeling back to normal in them, but she couldn't move them to do so.
"Do you hear that?" He asked her, and Rose shook her head against him. "I believe I hear sounds from the village up ahead." He said more softly, oddly intimate.
Rose didn't touch on that, letting it pass as he stepped over tree limbs and roots and entered a clearing.
The village was actually quite beautiful. Little huts made from tree limbs and over-large leaves for the roofing. They were quite elaborate for being constructed so simply, looking to be more than one room huts. There was a simple well in the middle of the village, as well as community fire pit where some members of the village gathered but didn't seem to be doing much more than staring into the flames. Despite the lack of any kind of joy, the locals were beautiful people with golden-brown skin and pitch black hair. Their eyes were gold in varying shades, and Rose was sure they would have sparkled if any of them would smile.
"You are not the ones who were here before." A middle aged woman approached them, dressed like all the others in simple off-white linens. "Though you look like the one called Jenny." She noted to Rose.
"I'm her mother," Rose said, catching the Doctor whip his head toward her in her peripheral vision. "This is her father," She added with a pat on his chest. "She's been here with River and Tim?"
The woman nodded. "Yes. They came a day after the crash."
"Crash?" The Doctor said. "There was a crash?" The woman looked at him oddly, gaze darting to Rose. "Oh, yes. Right. Is there a place where I can set down my mate while we chat?" He said without missing a beat, causing Rose to smirk.
"This way," The woman said, waving toward one of the larger huts nearby.
Once she was a fair distance away, the Doctor whispered, "Daughter?"
"Yes." Rose said simply.
The topic didn't get discussed any further as they followed the woman inside. She gestured to a simple chair where the Doctor set Rose down. Noting her legs were regaining their feeling more and more, Rose was able to shift around to gain a bit of comfort on the hard would furniture.
"There was a crash not far from here about five days ago. We have many, and didn't think much of it. We had sent the usual scouts out to ensure that if there were any survivors that they would be cared for. And if not, then we would ensure that those who passed would have been returned to the Universe."
"And how do your people do that?" The Doctor asked as he pulled a stool up beside Rose and sat beside her. He placed his hand over hers, though didn't seem to be trying to connect to her so much as prove solidarity.
"We burn them, so that their souls could be free and return to the stars on the smoke."
"Oh." He said simply, then gestured for her to continue.
"We sent people out, and they reported that there didn't seem to be anyone on board. Maybe they were already pulled away, I'm not sure. We thought nothing of it, and we had a union planned."
"Like a wedding. A, uh, marriage?" Rose asked.
"Yes." The woman confirmed. "We only managed to get the couple as far as the stairs to the altar of gods when we heard the sound. Then a horrible, terrible thing came out of the woods and charged the two that were to be united. We thought that, perhaps, we were simply being shown a sign from the gods that their union would not be blessed. But then others were being attacked, and it … it came to our village. We can only think that maybe we were being punished by the gods, that we had somehow upset them. Your daughter and her friends showed up before sunrise, said they were tracking the ship's … something? A distress signal, or something. Forgive me, I'm not completely familiar with your technology."
"So Jenny and the others were tracking the creature?"
"No, I think they were simply coming to help the ship. It was when we told them about the creature that they changed what they were hunting for."
"I believe where the TARDISes are is the altar of the gods." The Doctor said thoughtfully. "Which means this creature, which you have never encountered before, is keeping to a small area. I wonder why?" He said more to himself than anything.
"It seems drawn to happiness." The woman said. "Especially happiness brought on by love. I saw the way your daughter was looking at her male companion. I was not surprised to hear the call of the beast not long after they left our village."
~DWDWDW~
"Jenny Jacqueline Tyler, what in the bloody Universe do you think you're doing? Traveling your own, tracking down Weeping Angels, and now you're dragging Tim into this? It's the year 5038 AD on Earth right now, so how did that even happen?" The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest and stared down the daughter that looked about as old as her parents.
Rory supposed he shouldn't be too surprised. If her father changed everything about himself, and her mother was a hundred something sorta human who still looked to be in her twenties, then it seemed logical in an illogical way that their daughter would be sort of perfect, too. Had to be an alien thing.
"Ah," Jenny said, wringing her hands and smiling like she knew exactly how much trouble she was about to get in. It made her look child like for a woman who appeared to be about twenty. "Well, you see, there was a ship that belonged to a Time Agent. And, well, you see, the people we got it from didn't know it had belonged to a Time Agent. So River told them we'd fix it up and then, we, umm…."
"Stole it. You stole a ship that belonged to the Time Agency? You stranded someone somewhere?" The Doctor said with an eerie calm.
"No!" Jenny half protested half pleaded. "No, we didn't. I swear. The people we got it from were meeting up with someone. And they were on a very populated planet, and we, umm, did leave some credits for the ship."
He shook his head, huffing a sigh, and looked aged about twenty years as he gave her a look filled with such disappointment Rory thought his own Dad may have taken some tips.
As the grumbling between father and daughter continued, Rory turned to Amy and the young guy, Tim, who each sat on the altar looking entirely uncomfortable.
"Well," Tim said as Rory got closer, sitting to put the North-American sounding bloke in the middle. "Admittedly this is going better than I expected."
"How long have you known the Doctor and Rose?" Rory asked the black-haired, lanky guy who looked a bit older than him.
"I think about eight years, though to be honest I really have no idea. You travel with Storm Boy and Wolf Girl, you tend to loose track of your own age. Especially when you do it for a while."
"Sorry, Storm Boy? Wolf Girl? What sorta names are those?" Amy asked, smirking a bit at Tim.
"The Oncoming Storm and the Bad Wolf. Stuff of legends. Known across all of space and time in some form or another." Tim said without looking away from the Doctor and his daughter. "You two will get to see exactly what that means soon enough."
"Oh?" Rory asked, trying not to sound interested but was entirely.
"Can't tell you anymore than that." Tim said with a sigh.
"Oh come on," Amy elbowed him playfully. "How could you possibly know what we'll see? You aren't from the future, just heard the Doctor say the girls woulda had to pick you up from our time."
Tim smirked. "I'm a bit psychic, Amy Pond."
Rory looked to Amy, seeing her frown. "River or Jenny told you my name." She said simply.
"Oh yeah? Could River or Jenny tell me you made dolls of the Doctor, called him your Raggedy Man. Cuddled one every night you went to bed." He looked at the mortified Amy, and while he had a feeling it wouldn't last, Rory did find it a bit amusing to see. "Thought your husband was gay until your friend pointed out he'd been in love with you since you met," Tim leaned back but didn't look to Rory as he added quietly, "Though there was that brief period where you though Dayna Greer was actually kinda hot, and if Amy was never going to give you the time of day you considered giving it a go. But she was gay, so that didn't happen." Rory felt all the color drain from his face as Tim smiled just a bit wider. "This is the first time I've met you, though I've known I would for quite a while."
"Okay," Rory said. "Well, that's not weird or anything."
"You travel with the Doctor and Rose, weird becomes subjective." Tim said, focusing on the alien and his alien daughter again. "Case in point, two of my best friends are mother and daughter."
"Alright, so, you've known them a while. How is she? Rose? Demanding? Bossy? Controlling?" Amy asked, and Rory sent a glare around Tim to his girlfriend who pointedly ignored him.
Tim considered it, or seemed to anyway. "Demanding? No, not unless you're some evil creature and lives are at stake. One time when someone tried to hurt Jen she nearly put them through a wall in order to get answers. Bossy? Well, yes, but also no. Depends on the situation and where the Doctor is. Controlling? If Doc's being an idiot, yeah, sure. But she's sacrificed a lot to be with him, to be there for him, even if it meant not being at his side."
Rory watched as Amy considered the answer with a frown. He expected her to make a contradiction, but instead she turned toward the Doctor and Jenny and watched them with their arms crossed.
"River is still out there, Dad, and alone too." Rory heard her say. "Just let one of us go get her, please?"
"And let you walk around out there with some sort of creature waiting to attack you? I hardly think so." The Doctor countered.
"And you expect you and Mom will just stumble across her?" Jenny countered.
At this, Tim bolted up and moved toward them. "She has a point, Storm Boy. River's pretty well hidden, but we also told her we'd be back and if no one bothers showing up she's going to get nosy."
The Doctor sighed. "Yes, I suppose she would, and I think it's best that there we are always in pairs. Probably for the best, that, since the creature seems unpredictable and going alone would be bad."
"Not as bad as you might think." Rory heard the other Doctor call from down below. He got to his feet and jogged to the edge. He craned his head over the stone wall, seeing the Edwardian looking man standing at the steps with Rose leaning heavily against him. "Best you come down here and have this conversation, not sure our darling wife will make it up there."
Rory watched as the Doctor he was up there with seemed to pale, his Adam's apple bobbing and his whole body going stiff.
"What?" He asked, looking to Jenny and Tim for some guidance. Neither seemed to understand either, both looking confused.
But the Doctor didn't answer as he headed down the stairs. Rory followed, hearing three other set of footsteps shuffle on the stone as well. All paused when a loud screech echoed through the jungle, and the Doctor bolted the rest of the way down.
~DWDWDW~
"I can walk you know." Rose said to the Doctor carrying her at a brisk pace back through the jungle.
"Quite, but this way is much faster and we need to return to the others with this information. I'm fairly certain I know what the creature is, and I'm hoping that my older self with a few more centuries worth of knowledge will be able to confirm." He replied, glancing down at her, corner of his mouth turning upward more with each fleeting look. "We have a daughter?"
"Seriously?"
"You can hardly blame me for being a bit fascinated by the turn of events." The Doctor countered as he slowed enough to gingerly step over a log. "I was surprised enough to discover I have a bond mate, but to know we went so far as to reproduce."
"She wasn't brought about quite like that." Rose partially cut him off as he resumed the journey. "She's an anomaly. Born from you, and we've come to accept she at least looks like me, but we don't know how much of her is Gallifreyan and how much is human. I can't have children."
"Oh," The Doctor stopped, looking at her with honest sympathy. "I'm so sorry."
She managed a quick grin. "My choice. Be with you forever, or have children. Well, it wasn't exactly like that, suppose. Part of the deal anyway."
He studied her intently for a few heart beats, eyes seeming to trace the curve of her face before he met her gaze. "One has to wonder what I do to deserve you in my life. I must sacrifice more than any being should. More than my own life, for there would be no future with you. But what must happen for such a shining presence to choose to be with me forever?"
Rose snorted, "Not all bright and shiny, me. Can be quite dark sometimes too."
"Can't we all?" He teased before resuming their journey.
As they got closer, Rose could hear a very faint echo of her husband yelling at their daughter though she couldn't exactly hear the words. From the way the Doctor carrying her snickered, she imagined he could hear it all nearly perfectly.
"Having fun?"
"Oh, highly amused," he said as they broke through the thick of the jungle in front of the giant stone structure. "About to make it more so for myself." He said as he set her down.
While Rose was fairly healed from her earlier injury, her legs still didn't feel quite right. And while, yes, she could walk, and was doing so as they crept closer to the stairs, she found herself leaning heavily on the Doctor in the frock. An arm around him, gripping his shoulder, she tried to take a step while her legs still felt heavy. She'd never complain about the falling asleep again, at this rate.
"Doing alright?" He raised an eyebrow, eyes dancing with humor.
"Fine." She said, feeling her legs wobble. She grabbed on to his cravat and waist coat to catch herself from falling over, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. His hand was resting low on her hip, keeping her pressed to him as she let go of his garments and held herself steady with the arm around his shoulders. She caught his eye and smiled, though the way he looked at her made it fade quickly. She remembered that look, even if it wasn't entirely real. The same look he gave her before clothes were cast aside and they made love in his once favorite arm chair. Well, once favorite, forgotten, then favorite again as it made its way into the library.
"Doctor." She said cautiously, and the seductive look changed to a mischievous grin.
"Not as bad as you might think." He shouted with a tilt of his chin. He winked, then turned his head up toward the top of the stairs. "Best you come down here and have this conversation, not sure our darling wife will make it up there."
"What are you on about?" Rose asked with a mirthless laugh.
"He refuses to open his mind to either of us, thinking, of course, that he's keeping me from future knowledge. Though it's rather pointless seeing as how I'm going to have to forget it all anyway. They were just discussing the alien and someone named River, I thought I would let them know we were back so I could tell him what we know and my theory on the alien. Oh, which brings me to this." He said thoughtfully before grabbing the back of her head and kissing her firmly.
Yep, same taste through four bodies. This one seemed to have more of a lingering taste of tea than those of the bodies she called husband. Her memory of his ninth body made her think strongly of bananas, and his last one had been sweet from all the sugar he ate. The body felt the same as she remembered, the way he pressed up against her, fingers digging into flesh. She tried very hard to keep those memories in the back of her mind, especially since they weren't real, and tried to focus on what was actually happening.
"So what do I taste like now?" The Doctor asked against her lips. "Not this me, the older me."
"Well," Rose pondered, trying to force herself not to be tempted into kissing this Doctor again as she sensed the one she arrived with was getting closer. A loud screech through the jungle pulled her back, and she looked around her to see where the alien was about to come from.
"Just in time!" The Doctor stepped away slightly, looking around with wide eyed eagerness.
"Rose!" Her current Doctor cried out, arriving beside her a beat later.
"Stay back!" River cried out, jumping out of the bushes with a gun drawn, pointing at a spot across fro her. "No one move, it doesn't seem to like the light."
"Oh, it wouldn't, would it?" The Doctor in green said with that never-changing enthusiasm for life. "Home planet is dark, perpetual night."
"Home planet?" The older Doctor said, and she felt his realization tickle in her mind. "Oh! So that means …."
"Yes," The Doctor holding her said.
"And it's attracted to …."
"Oh, very much so."
"But they aren't supposed to be dangerous?" Her bow tie-wearing husband said as a pair of orange eyes pierced through the shadows.
There was a low growl, and Rose still tried to instinctively shove both Time Lords behind her. It didn't matter, it wasn't going after them.
The alien darted out, past them, right for Rory, Amy, Jenny and Tim. Rory and Jenny both stood in the front, both shoved those they protected out of the way.
Skidding to a stop, the alien howled, arching it's back as it stood on all fours, writhing about before darting back toward Rose and the Doctors.
"Get down." River cried.
"No, you are not shooting it!" The older Doctor yelled. "It's innocent and confused, and there's really no need to…."
Rose didn't hear the last thing her husband said to River. She had been focusing on the alien, trying to make sure the Time Lords were out of its way when it bolted back toward them for the jungle. In its hasty retreat, crying in agony the whole way, the poor thing smacked against her. Which wouldn't have been all that big of deal, really, except she still couldn't properly feel her legs. Knocked off balance, Rose scrambled to regain it, stumbling a bit too far, and colliding head first with a pointed rock.
~DWDWDW~
"Oh my God!" Rory cried out in panic when all Amy could do was scream. She covered her mouth, feeling hysteria come over her as she watched the obscene amount of blood flow from Rose's skull on to the ground just after the most terrifying looking thing in the Universe scampered off into the jungle.
Rory darted over where Rose's body lay, and when Amy could take the sight of her boyfriend tending to her and all that blood, her eyes fell to the Doctor. Her Doctor. Raggedy Man.
He'd just gotten her back, she'd just woken up, and now she wasn't breathing and there was so much blood, and why was he so calm?
Oh no, no, he had said they would take their last breaths together, and here he was staring at her with hard, pained filled eyes.
"Rose, Rose, Love, come on. Don't do this to me." The other Doctor said, kneeling down and cradling her limp head as Rory took vitals.
Amy glanced around, noting that Tim, River, even Jenny looked on stoically. Not scared, not grief stricken, but patient if not a bit uncomfortable.
"How can you stand there like that?" The curly-haired man holding Rose's head snapped at the one standing nearby. "She's our bond mate, and you aren't showing any signs of disconnect. She's dying or dead …."
"No she isn't." Raggedy Man said plainly.
"I'm sorry," Rory said as he got to his feet, placing a hand gently on the Doctor's shoulder. "There's no signs of life. She's gone."
Raggedy Man nodded with a little pout, then turned to to the others. "Tim?" he asked.
Tim shook his head. "Dunno, bout another two, three minutes? You've been around this longer than I have."
"First time it's happened since my regeneration. You were there during the initial discovery, you have the best way of determining how long as it could have reset itself." The Doctor countered.
Amy dropped her hand and stared at her Raggedy Man. How he simply stood beside his wife's dead body like he didn't care at all. She frowned, looking around at everyone again, seeing the same looks on Rory and the other Doctor's face at the turn of conversation.
"I stand by my estimate, then." Tim said, gesturing with both hands to Rose's body before flopping them down to his side.
"Rassilon!" The other Doctor gasped, and Amy turned to see him gapping down at Rose. Her Doctor knelt beside her with a smile on his face, picking up her hand and holding it in both of his.
"I can feel my legs again." Rose spoke, and Amy yelped as Rory took a bit step back. Rose's eyes opened, and she smiled as she looked between the two Doctors. "Not minding the view too much, either."
"You would say that," The Doctor teased as he helped her up, the other one shifting his hands from her head to her back.
"Rose, you … remarkable woman." The other Doctor beamed.
"What exactly just happened?" Rory asked no on in particular, pointing to Rose as both Doctors got to their feet and helped her up. "You were dead. Heart stopped, not breathing, major blood loss, dead."
"Yeah, hazard of mine, that. Jeopardy friendly, and all." She said as she straightened her jumper. "'Nough about me, though, you had a theory on the alien, yeah?" She said to the shorter of the two Doctors who still looked at her with awe.
And yeah, okay, in this case she deserved it. And maybe it all sort of made sense now why Rose kept throwing herself in danger with the Krafayis in France. She didn't die, or at least she didn't stay dead. Amy didn't want to admit she was impressed, or even relieved for that matter, but she was. She didn't want to imagine her Raggedy Man losing his wife when she just got back to him. Didn't want to make all those times she thought he was a widow reality.
"I did." The shorter Doctor said. He looked up, meeting the eyes of his future self. "Pheromones."
"What?" Rory asked as the proper Doctor's eyes went wide with giddiness and wonder. He smacked himself on the forehead, too, despite the ever growing grin.
"Pheromones." The curly-haired one repeated. "It's what's drawing it out. I had to test the theory, of course. The villagers nearby said that it originally attacked during a union ceremony, and if you remember where we are and why that altar is there." He said with a heavy hint of innuendo.
Raggedy Man blushed. "Right, yes."
"Why is the altar there?" Tim asked, crossing his arms and looking entirely serious. Jenny smacked him as River rolled her eyes.
"They, umm, signify their marriage, their union, by, umm…." Raggedy Man tried explaining, hands flailing and wringing as he avoided eye contact with everyone.
"In front of …." Rory said.
"Yeah." The Doctor nodded.
"We sat on that." Rory said, squirming a bit.
"How would that be comfortable?" Amy thought out loud.
"Well, it's really all about the positioning," The other Doctor said thoughtfully before Rose smacked him hard on the gut, cutting him off.
"Let's skip of those details, shall we? And you," She said, whirling toward Tim and pointing at him accusingly. "Troublemaker that you are. We won't go in to what we were told back at that village, yeah?"
Tim's arms went limp. "What are you talking about there, Wolf Girl? 'Cause I can say, nothing like that has been happening to me here." He said with the faintest hint of a blush.
"That explains why you two never came back." River snorted.
"Oi, not true." Jenny growled back, hands balling into fists at her sides. "And you don't want to go here, M..mmm… River, or so help me they will know things."
"I already know things." Tim said with an arched brow.
"Shut up," Both girls yelled at him in near perfect sync, the whole thing reminding Amy of watching Mels and her younger sister fighting while they were growing up.
"Are you positive only one of them is ours?" The shorter Doctor said, brow knitting together as he observed the trio.
"No," Raggedy Man said with a shake of his head. He then clapped his hands and turned back to his wife and supposedly younger self. "So our little friend is drawn to the pheromones in the air, thinks it's a food source, and comes running. Only it's not, and it gets angry and confused."
"Hold up," Amy yelled, gesturing for everyone to stop. "Explain to us non-aliens what you're on about."
"It's a Masun." Raggedy Man said with excitement. "A Masun, from two planets over. Quite the distance from here, really. So far that the sun of this solar system is nothing more than a dot on the horizon. Planet is in perpetual night, it's why our alien is not fond of the sun out here, why it flees back to the shade of the jungle. Vegetarian, despite the teeth, and has a strong sense of smell."
"The vegetation on its home world give off a smell that greatly resembles that of humanoid pheromones." The shorter Doctor added. "It's drawn to the scent. Attacked the villagers because the anticipation of ceremony would have produced them. Came after Rose and I a few times because we're mates, even if we're out of sync. There's an attraction there, which is why the villagers pointed out that when you three came by …."
"Okay, yes, understood." Jenny cut him off.
"So it's not attacking." River said, looking between the Time Lords. "It's honestly just a very confused creature."
"Yes. But why were you out here looking for it if you … oh." Raggedy Man had started in his lecture tone then stopped, looking as though he were hearing something no one else could. He looked to Rose, to the other him. "Seems you two girls actually weren't getting into trouble for once."
"But why's it here? How'd it get here if its home world is two planets away?" Amy asked, crossing her arms and putting her weight on her right leg.
"I imagine it was likely meant to be transported to a habitation planet." The curly-haired Doctor said with a shrug. "They're not hostile creatures, not worth anything for capture. And there was a ship crashed, which is what those three were investigating when they landed here."
Jenny nodded. "Picked up the distress signal."
"So what happens to the Masun now?" Rory asked, seeming to try and wrap his tongue around the alien name. "Do we leave it?"
"And have it suffer? No. Two planets away, Rory." Raggedy Man said, looking at Rory incredulously. "We wait til sun down, lure it here, capture it, then take it home."
"Lure it." Rory said, and the Doctor simply nodded. "Right, and we're going to do that how?"
~DWDWDW~
"Exactly how did we become bait for a very creepy, supposedly vegetarian alien?" Rory asked his girlfriend as they climbed up the stairs as the sun was setting. It hadn't been that long ago that Rose came back from the dead and the two Doctors discussed what the alien was with a bit of input from their daughter and her friends. Discussed alien life forms and completely ignoring how a woman was dead and then wasn't. Well, he supposed one was used to it. In fact, all of them were used to it except he and Amy and the younger Doctor.
"Well, the Doctor and the short one both thought it was a good idea to be there to wrangle it in. I doubt the Doctor would actually want that Tim bloke snogging his daughter to lure out the alien, and I don't think River would volunteer."
"Right," Rory said. "Right, yeah. Makes sense. If it was our daughter, I suppose, yeah, I wouldn't exactly want her making out with some guy as trap."
"Or worse." Amy said with a flirty grin she hadn't bestowed on him in a very long time.
"Right." Was all Rory could manage to muster.
"Well, you did hear the mini Doctor." Amy said with fake nonchalance. "It's all about positions."
He stopped on the step and watched as she continued up. He looked down, a partial mistake when he considered how far up he was and how precariously he was sort of balanced on the stair. He couldn't see the others clearly, but that didn't mean that … and Amy wasn't really thinking … but he supposed.
Well, she always was the adventurous sort. And now maybe he was too.
"Nope, nope, not happening." He mumbled to himself as he looked back to where Amy was disappearing. He shook his head resolutely and headed up the stairs.
~DWDWDW~
"This has turned into the most awkward trip any of us have ever taken." Tim noted as he sat between she and Jenny.
"How is it awkward for you?" Melody, or River as this trip had forced her to think of herself, asked him without masking her annoyance. "It's not your parents up there doing things you really don't want to think about."
"Nor is it your mum with two versions of your Dad and one of them is turning out to be a horrendous flirt." Jenny added with a grimace as the younger Doctor leaned over and whispered something in Rose's ear while his hand lingered on her hip. They were setting up a containment field to capture the Masun quickly, and the younger Doctor managed to come up behind Rose just as she was starting to stand up after placing the last generator.
"You're right, you're both right. It's very awkward for you. But here's the thing," He turned to River, and she arched her brow in challenge. "I've seen what your parents are getting to up there." He then turned to Jenny who looked as horrified as River felt, "And I see the thoughts flickering through your younger Dad's mind because he thinks the weaker telepath here is you Mom."
"You mean you see …?"
"Yeah, and let's just say that is way more of your Dad's thought process than I ever wished to know. Spent a good two years of my life traveling with them and thanked the TARDIS every damn day for making sure I was never privy to that information. Except now it's being projected. Loudly. And on the wrong frequency."
River bit back the laugh, though she did enjoy the fact that Tim was suffering on some level. Still, she knew. She'd seen the scar on his temple when they picked him up, knew roughly when it was for him, that it was actually much later in his time stream than he would let Jenny believe. That just because Tim was where he should have been didn't mean he wasn't somewhere else beforehand.
~DWDWDW~
"So at some point in time, I have the pleasure of getting to become acquainted with you." The younger Doctor whispered in her ear as she stood up from placing the last generator of the third containment field. She felt his hand lightly touch her hip, and smirked when a spike of jealousy came through from her husband. Well, the older version.
"Not quite." She confessed, seeing the disappointment in the eighth Doctor's eyes as she met them. "'S a bit complicated how those memories you saw came about. Not something we should be getting into."
"Oi, do you two mind?" The older Doctor growled out loud. "You're gonna end up attracting the Masun before we're ready."
"Oh, and how do you know our young lovers aren't already up there preparing? Time Lords may have an excellent sense of smell, but not this far away, and definitely not as strong as a Masun's. The ginger woman likes risk, and they're up there literally on an altar meant to be …."
"Let's not go there, please?" Rose asked as she cut him off. "We do have to travel with them, yeah? Best we don't think on what their doing, just as they shouldn't think on us."
"Us? What are you implying, Rose, Love? Because I can't speak for my future selves but I wouldn't share you with anyone, including myself."
"Oi, don't give her ideas. Freshly regenerated here, still only a couple weeks in. Still have to get over the typical worry she doesn't like me, best not throw in the possibility that she'd want another me."
"Wouldn't want two of you." Rose said, patting him on the chest and giving him a put-on smile. "One's enough as it is most times."
"See, there you go. We really don't need you here now, so hows about you mosey on up to your TARDIS and leave us be, eh?" Her husband suggested to his younger self with a bit too much enthusiasm.
His younger self smiled smugly. "And leave the memory of your witnessing what your companions are likely doing up there for you to recall the moment you see them? Gladly."
"Oh my god, you're the same bloody man!" Rose growled, pulling at her hair. "Always the same bloody git who tortures himself for absolutely no reason. Honestly, you wanna know the kinda fantasy I have that involves two Doctors? Them getting along! Not bloody well gonna happen, now, innit? Every time, every time you go about mocking yourself or threatening yourself, and it drives me bloody well mad!" She huffed, glaring at the two of them who now seemed to be focused entirely on the jungle behind her.
Rose waited, eye brows rising as she looked at them expectantly, waiting for one of them to say something.
"I believe our friend is on his way." Her husband said without pulling his eyes away from the jungle.
"Quite right." His younger self said, pulling out his model screwdriver from his pocket. "All set?"
"Quite." Her husband said as he pulled out his own.
Both men backed up, eyes never leaving the jungle behind her, sonics at the ready to activate the containment field.
Rose's shoulders sank.
Of course. Of course this would be what happened. Wasn't it always what bloody well happened? Goes at his own throat until he finally uses his big brain to think about something else other than himself?
She moved out of the way, placing herself in front of the trio perched on the bottom of the stairs, and waited.
A breath later, the Masun jumped out of the jungle and charging right for her. Or at least it seemed that way, though she knew what it was actually going for.
Two separate whirring sounds filled the air, and before the Masun could move any further it was captured in the center containment unit.
"Ha ha!" Her husband cheered, moving toward it and kneeling down to get a good look at the alien. "Look at you, you beautiful beastie, you." He cooed. "We'll get you home, soon, we promise."
"Allow me," The younger Doctor said, and he knelt beside his older self and pointed his screwdriver at one of the containment generators. A moment later, the whole thing, Masun included, disappeared. "Put him in holding on my TARDIS. You will have companions to worry about, best you let me deliver it home."
"And where were you planning on heading next?" The older Doctor asked as he got his feet, crossing his arms as he watched his younger self stand and put his sonic away.
"Wherever I'm needed." He replied with a grin. He then turned and looked fondly down at the three sitting on the steps. "I do wish I had had more time with you all, but I suppose I will eventually."
"More than you're likely going to want, Storm Boy." Tim said, standing up and offering a hand to the younger Doctor. He looked at Tim and the offered appendage with amusement before he shook it.
"Yes. And I believe, Timothy, that despite any future misgivings I will be eternally thankful to have had you in my life. Despite how long you'll manage to stick around for."
Tim smirked, winked, shook the Doctor's hand and stepped aside.
"I'm terribly regretful I'm going to forget all of you for the time being." He said to the girls before turning to Rose, taking her hand and looking her in the eye. "Though I believe I will regret forgetting you most of all."
"You'll see me, soon." She said, and she somehow thought that maybe it wasn't quite as far off as she thought. A voice in her mind suggested that perhaps she'd met this Doctor before, and not in the false reality. She pushed it aside though, not wanting to add more confusion to their already entangled Time Lines.
"One can hope." He said before leaning in, cupping her cheek and kissing her just over the line of chaste.
It was Jenny's throat clear that pulled him back. He stepped away from Rose, kneeling down by Jenny. He placed a kiss on top of her head, turned to River and pondered her before doing the same.
"Ah, Doctor." Tim caught his attention as he started up the stairs. When the Doctor paused, Tim held up a finger to single him to hold on a touch longer before cupping his hands around his mouth. "You two better be decent because someone's on their way up." He dropped his hands with a grin. "'Kay, you should be good now." He said, waving the younger Doctor along.
"We'll head back to the village, let the locals know that the Masun is no longer a threat." River said as she got to her feet, brushing off the back of her pants, eyes on the ground. "Best if, umm, best if we go now, I think."
There was an odd look of sympathy that passed between Jenny and Tim that was turned to River, and Rose watched as her daughter put her arm around her friend in comfort.
"Well, if you insist, I suppose." The Doctor said before changing from equally sympathetic to stern. "But I want you two to return the time ship back to where you got it from. You want time travel bad enough, I'm sure I have a TARDIS will allow a clipping of coral for you to grow your own."
"Takes centuries." Jenny protested.
"Not if you shatterfry the plasmic shell and modify the dimensional stabilizer." He countered. "More to that, but I don't remember. It's in a book, somewhere. Check the library when I pick you up next. Point is, you're a grown woman, likely a grown woman, guessing you are, anyway, and it's about time you had your own TARDIS."
"Yes, Dad." Jenny said with a playful roll of her eyes. She moved toward him, throwing her arms around his neck in a tight hug. She then moved on to Rose, who returned the gesture as tight as she could.
"I won't tell'im about you and Tim." She said softly. "Best you do that when you're ready."
"Thanks, Mum." She said, placing a quick peck on Rose's cheek before she moved to stand next to River.
Tim looked hesitant to come over, doing so reluctantly. He put his arms around Rose's neck. "Be careful. She's everywhere." He whispered.
A cold chill went down Rose's spine, and she pulled back to see the fear and pain in his eyes before he blinked and looked away.
They finished their goodbyes with River, promising to pass on her farewells to Amy and Rory, and the trio parted ways from them.
"She grew up too fast." The Doctor said as he put his arm around Rose's shoulders, turning her toward the stairs.
"We've had her in our lives over a hundred years, now. Never know when she is in her time line when we see her, but 's not like this is the first time we ever really saw her out on her own."
"No," he relented as they climbed the stairs. "But sometimes I do wish she had been with us the whole time. She was never a baby, but there were still all these firsts we would have missed out on. Still, suppose it's not like she was something we'd ever thought we'd have. Knowing she's there to be part of our family, best in the end, isn't it?" He said with a wide grin before it faded. The sounds of the TARDIS in leaving in the distance seemed to halt him, but it was the way his eyes grew sad and remorseful that really made her worry.
"What's wrong?" She asked, putting a hand on his chest, feeling his hearts pound beneath her palm.
The Doctor swallowed. "I remember this day, now. Tucked it away so I wouldn't recall it until after I took off in the TARDIS. Drop off the Masun, as promised but then I …."
"Then you?" Rose asked.
"The next place I go is the last stop I make before I enter the Time War. And what happened … it's not something I like to remember."
"Then let's head home, get some tea, have a little rest, yeah?"
"Yeah." He said, then perked up. "Oh," he said, brightening even more. "Rory and Amy. Their time lines. Almost nearly perfectly on track. Oh this is excellent. Oh, this is … oh, but I don't want to know how they go there."
Rose laughed resting her head half on his chest as they continued their way up the stairs to their companions, and the TARDIS humming amusedly with them.
~DWDWDW~
"What's your name?"
"Cass."
"You're young to be crewing a gunship, Cass."
"I wanted to see the Universe. Is it always like this?"
He grinned to himself. "If you're lucky." He said.
Already he was planning trips, all the places he could show her. He wouldn't just show this spunky young woman the Universe, but time as well.
The door he'd tried to get open finally bent to his well, and he pulled her along. She stopped as they approached the TARDIS, and he sensed her reluctance.
"Don't worry, it's bigger on the inside." He reassured.
"What did you say? 'Bigger on the inside', is that what you said?" Cass demanded of him.
It was the last somewhat civil conversation they had before she tore herself away and put the door between them. She'd called him a Dalek, saying there was no difference between them and Time Lords at this point. The time war was destroying everything, everywhere, everywhen, and he was starting to see that maybe not everyone believed there was a proper side to be fighting on.
She declared it good he would die with her, smiling with satisfaction as the critical alarms grew louder more persistent.
Coward that he was, when she turned her back, he went for his TARDIS. He could go back, change things, do something to stop this from happening, sod the paradox. He only just had his foot over the threshold when the ship crashed.
He awoke his his back against a rock and his mind reeling. He could feel his hearts were unsteady but strong, his body on the cusp of regeneration, though it was unlikely going to get there. He could feel the haze of a healing coma willing him back.
"Cass." He murmured, opening his eyes to see an older looking woman dressed in red. "If you're referring to your companion, we are still attempting to extract her from the wreckage."
"She wasn't my companion." He countered.
"She's almost certainly dead." The woman said. "No one could survive that crash."
"I did." He said, looking her in the eye.
"No, we restored you to life, but it's a temporary measure."
"No," he said, getting to his feet, looking down at her. "How stupid do you think I am? I'd know if I died. You pulled me out of a healing coma." He looked around, snorting with laughter as he realized where he was. "I'm back on Karn. Which would make you the Sisterhood of Karn, keepers of the Flame of Utter Boredom."
"Eternal life," the woman, Ohila, he now recalled, got to her feet as well.
"That's the one." He said, feeling a wave of fatigue threaten him. He had to find out what they wanted, and soon, before he fell into the coma at the mercy of these fools who dared try to lie to him. "What do you want from me?"
She had the decency to bow her head. "The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords threatens all of reality. You are the only hope left."
"It's not my war," he said firmly. "I will have no part of it."
"You can't ignore it forever." Ohila insisted.
"I help where I can, I will not fight." He insisted as he went to leave.
"You are part of this, Doctor, whether you like it or not." Ohila stated, giving him pause. "If the young Razbahonion you crashed with could speak, what would she say?"
He snorted, "To me? Nothing. I'm a Time Lord, everything she despised." He said, the word leaving a bad taste in his mouth. He didn't want to be hated for his species, felt it unjustified when he was so adamant not to join the war.
And where did that get him?
"She would beg your help, as we beg your help now. The universe stands on the brink, will you let it fall?" Ohila sounded desperate, and just as he was about to counter her with derision, a group of the sisterhood came toward them, carrying a battered and broken, completely lifeless Cass in on a stretcher.
She'd have had a family, maybe a lover. She only joined the war to see the Universe, and now the risk ran that there wouldn't be a universe left.
"No." He said. "I will not."
"We have prepared potions, ones that would trigger a regeneration, guide it to what you need. If you wish to …."
"No, Sister Ohila." He snapped at first, then turned to look at her with all the politeness he could muster. "If I am to do this, I will enter the war as myself: a good man. Or, at least, a good a man as I have ever been. If the universe needs the Doctor, then I shall tend to it as myself." He turned away moving to the altar where the women placed Cass's body. "Ensure she has a proper send off." He asked.
Cass, I apologize, he thought to himself as he stroked her cheek. Another wave of fatigue hit him, and he knew he couldn't stay another moment.
Stumbling all the way back to the TARDIS, he was thankful the doors opened up for him. Inside, in place of his arm chair, was a very low cot, and he gratefully laid on it. A beat later, he was falling into the coma.
The Doctor bolted up in the dark room, heaving in air as he struggled to against the memory. He didn't mean to drift, but it happened. He didn't mean to remember that day, though knowing he'd just seen himself before it happened meant it came to the forefront.
He looked down at Rose, seeing her sleeping soundly, undisturbed by his recollection, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Stretching out beside her, he curled into her, relishing in her heat, happily allowing her mind to brush against his. The Doctor closed his eyes, willing himself to be still and wait out the next hour before she woke up.
A/N: Sorry if anyone is still a bit confused on the trio after this. We'll be seeing more of them with a little more explanation here and here through out the fic.
Thank you to the readers, favoriters, followers, and of course the reviewers.
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Thank you all so much for your responses. I know 8 wasn't super charming at one point but in the books of his I read he can be a bit threatening. So sorry if he wasn't the dream boat he usually is.
Within a week for the next post. At the moment I'm working on fixing a slight oversight by the Moffat in the origin of a couple characters. Because, you know, he was the King of continuity.
Until next post.